Boxscore (PDF)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Due to a plethora of player injuries, Eastern Illinois Panther rugby dropped a 41-14 contest at Indiana last Friday afternoon, to move to 2-2 on the season.

The game started off according to plan with the Panthers taking an early 14-0 lead 14-0 halfway through the first half.  At that point EIU lost Anne Schnura to an injury as Kristy Young filled in, but due to low experience at that position, the squad began to struggle. Five minutes later the squad then lost defensive standout Stephanie Militello to injury.

EIU was now down two forwards and Indiana took advantage, forcing the Panthers to play defense the rest of the way while pushing across two scores before the half to tie the score at 14 apiece.

The start of the second half was similar to the end of the first half with EIU playing mostly defense.  Ten minutes into the half the Panther squad lost Victoria Rosales to injury and were now playing three forwards short, plus EIU dropped every scrum.

Amanda Fromm was moved up to the forward position to try to give some help, but the damage was already done as IU scored a few more times while enjoying a three player advantage.

Midway through the second half the Panthers lost senior Marlise Davidson to injury and were now four players short. The Hoosiers naturally took advantage, once again, by scoring a few more times, holding onto the ball and running all over the field.

As the Panthers were just about to lose yet another player to injury, and be five total players down, the game referee blew the whistle 11 minutes early.

"This team showed great courage today," said EIU head coach Frank Graziano.  "Even when the team was playing many players short, they never gave up and continued to compete the best they could. Adding to the difficulty of being so short handed was the fact that more than half the team was playing out of position as well.  We will evaluate our injuries this week as we have the week off to prepare for Ohio State."

This is the first time in six years that a Panther squad has dropped two consecutive games, when EIU lost three straight versus Kansas, Illinois and Vanderbilt near the beginning of the 2001 season.  Prior to this loss, the Panthers dropped a 20-19 contest to West Chester in the historic first-ever NCAA rugby contest.

The Panthers will have a little more than two weeks to heal and regroup before hosting the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, October 6 at EIU's Lakeside Field.  Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.

... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SID